I love my 2k, but have been thinking about picking up a pocket cam to be a bit more mobile. Anyone using it? How do you feel about it?
Any BMPCC Users?
- Thread starter pictureplanet
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I like this list, Brian. I couldn't afford even this much, though, so I got a $28.75 hot shoe instead of a cage, and added a $17 P&C pistol grip. My sunshade is a kluge that cost me less than $100.
Here's how it looks:
Shooting with this setup works great and takes me back 40 years to Super 8 days
That looks like a nice set up. I think that's a 14-54 oly Zuiko right? I use that lens all the time. No one talks about it much but I like it.
I've shot a lot of Super 8 too and that's my favorite thing about the bmpcc: the film like nature of the workflow and camera characteristics. I've had 16mm film envy my entire life. I still covet Arriflex 16mm systems.
Close. It's not the 14-54, it's my favorite lens, the Oly 11-22mm f2.8-3.5. Great for stills and video on 2x and 3x crop cameras. Only downside is how slow the autofocus is with the MA1.
I still covet Arri too - 16 and 35mm. Shooting a motion picture with the Arri 35BL is on my bucket list
Cheers,
Bill
Close. It's not the 14-54, it's my favorite lens, the Oly 11-22mm f2.8-3.5. Great for stills and video on 2x and 3x crop cameras. Only downside is how slow the autofocus is with the MA1.
I still covet Arri too - 16 and 35mm. Shooting a motion picture with the Arri 35BL is on my bucket list
Cheers,
Bill
AF on the 14-54 is also dog a$s slow and noisy.
Native Sons Films in Woodside, CA shoots a McDonalds ad campaign for Stern Advertising in LA with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera: http://soundandpicture.com/2014/03/...gn-shot-with-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera/
Interesting quote from Director and DP Joe Murray of Native Sons Films explains why he didn't use 8 bit cameras or a GoPro:
“I also wanted it to look authentic, as if you are looking through a human eye, not a camera, so the footage had to have a sophisticated, cinematic look. Even though it’s a roving, quick point of view, I didn’t want over sharpened, highly compressed images or barreling distortion with a fish eye look. I wanted a naturalistic wide lens look with correct corners and smooth, high quality images, and I couldn’t have done it with any other tool...”
Not bad for a $995 camera.
Interesting quote from Director and DP Joe Murray of Native Sons Films explains why he didn't use 8 bit cameras or a GoPro:
“I also wanted it to look authentic, as if you are looking through a human eye, not a camera, so the footage had to have a sophisticated, cinematic look. Even though it’s a roving, quick point of view, I didn’t want over sharpened, highly compressed images or barreling distortion with a fish eye look. I wanted a naturalistic wide lens look with correct corners and smooth, high quality images, and I couldn’t have done it with any other tool...”
Not bad for a $995 camera.
I'll have to check out those links.
For those who've used one, in a scale of "complete non-problem" to "utterly unusable without IS" how would you rate the shutter?
For those who've used one, in a scale of "complete non-problem" to "utterly unusable without IS" how would you rate the shutter?
Basically yeah.
I 'm reconsidering this camera for some doc content likely destined for web delivery. Wondering how folks feel about the shutter in day to day use. Obviously more "rolling" than some other, slightly more expensive options, but interested to hear some experiences from the trenches as it were.
I 'm reconsidering this camera for some doc content likely destined for web delivery. Wondering how folks feel about the shutter in day to day use. Obviously more "rolling" than some other, slightly more expensive options, but interested to hear some experiences from the trenches as it were.
My next camera is probably going to be the Pocket Cinema Camera, now that Blackmagic have fixed all of the white orbs and black hole issues. I currently have the T3i which does a nice enough job for my current learning!
Once I learn a bit more about cinematography, I know I definitely want a Blackmagic Camera... I just don't know if I want the Pocket cam or the 2.5K cinema cam!
Actually, technically speaking, 1920x1080 IS 2K: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K_(resolution)
So really the Cinema Cam is just a slight improvement over the Pocket Cam, you do gain quite a bit more detail but at the cost of a ton of extra needed space and SSDs!
Once I learn a bit more about cinematography, I know I definitely want a Blackmagic Camera... I just don't know if I want the Pocket cam or the 2.5K cinema cam!
pictureplanet said:
Actually, technically speaking, 1920x1080 IS 2K: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K_(resolution)
So really the Cinema Cam is just a slight improvement over the Pocket Cam, you do gain quite a bit more detail but at the cost of a ton of extra needed space and SSDs!
What are you shooting? Or I guess, how are you shooting? The rolling shutter's really not too bad, but it's always going to depend on the sort of camera movement you plan (of course)
I shot with this baby handheld and for the most part I didn't find myself noticing bad rolling shutter (or maybe I was distracted by other issues in the image, like the sensor issues on the one we rented)
Overall I was a lot less happy with the image than I thought I would be, but it's certainly not bad, definitely very useable. Depending on how you're shooting, you may need to kit it out pretty decently.
Technically speaking 2k is still larger than 1920x1080, however slight - so no HD is not 2k, and you would need to upscale to get there.Yodaman said:
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I was about to sort of argue (in a friendly fashion!
) this, and then I saw this on the same wikipedia page I linked to...I thought 1080p was 2K because of the highlighted text... then I saw that it's the TOTAL pixel count, and now I feel very silly because I should've realized that from the start...
But I know I've heard other people say 1080p is 2K, maybe they just meant it's so close it might as well be?
Well, in fairness, nothing that couldn't be shot with my GH2.
Anything I get asked to shoot that my GH2 can't do is a rental anyway.But I'm tempted by the massive jump in both dynamic range and light sensitivity - the native 800 is just too tempting. I also understand that the RAW firmware is finally out, and I really like some of the looks I have seen coming out of the camera. In that respect the Pocket seems like the lowest entry barrier for getting into that sort of look development for my own work as well as work for hire with rented cameras.
More specifically - character driven documentary content, episodic shorts following different people centered on a common theme.
I also find this little guy as an appealing B-camera option for those "hard to reach" places.
In a perfect world I would just slap a loupe over the screen, put an s16 powered zoom on the front and use my eye, the lens handgrip, and my focusing hand as the 3 points of contact. I already have a little invested in v-mount power, so could easily rig the battery plate to a belt clip for this style of shooting. Same goes for the necessary external audio recorder.
More likely though I would run it from a monopod if I needed mobility, sticks when I didn't, and the occasional slider or similar device from time to time. I could see this camera working very well on a small "gun-stock" style rig for HH work.
Natch. From what I can tell watching Vimeo it's marginally better in terms of rolling shutter than my GH2. That said, I don't like to make judgments about image from compressed web delivery formats.
Obviously whip-panning is completely out of the question with this thing, but very little I have in mind calls for that sort of move. At most, for the doc projects, I might put it in a slider or float it on a gimbal of one sort or another. For B-cam work it might see more movement.Would you mind elaborating? Are you referring to black hole sun and other defects, or are you referring to more permanent artifacts like moire?
What about build quality and usability? Problems with it crashing, freezing, overheating, or similar?
I think I might be getting too hung up on the s16 sensor format. I have a nostalgia for 16mm that borders on unhealthy. If I had my way I'd be shooting with an A-Minima or an XTR every day.
I guess it depends what you're used to shooting. I haven't shot DSLR in a good two years, so perhaps my viewpoint is a little skewed. I found it to be decent in both light sensitivity and DR, but I found the DR wasn't noticeably better than any DSLR stuff I've shot in the past (not enough to wow me anyway). Light sensitivity was okay, but I'd probably rather sit it around 400 ISO - I simply liked the way it looked better; pushing it to 1600 would be fine - there's a decent amount of noise, but it looked less like ugly SLR or RED noise, and a tad more like grain.
ISO 800 sounds great in theory, but it's no Alexa or even RED - in practice I found I seemed to be needing more light at 800 and 1600 than I would've on a slightly higher end camera, and seemingly less DR range to boot (I sure wouldn't be putting this on the same level DR-wise as Alexa despite the claims).
Now, this is where the little guy comes in to it's own - imagine a slightly bigger GoPro with half-decent DR and a half-decent sensor size recording into raw/ProRes!
The camera itself is incredibly light so keep that in mind - I had really small m4/3 still lenses on it and it was already front heavy. Friend of mine uses CP.2s on it and basically holds the lens to operate (he has no rig - I guess at least if the big expensive lens comes off, you're holding it so the thing that's going to break is the cheap camera!
)Natch. From what I can tell watching Vimeo it's marginally better in terms of rolling shutter than my GH2. That said, I don't like to make judgments about image from compressed web delivery formats.
Sounds like you won't have too much issue then. I certainly didn't notice any/much more rolling shutter than other SLRs.
Nah, we had what's probably best described as 'streaks' on the sensor. The rental house (small one) had obviously never put any footage from it through post and so didn't pick up on it. I was only really using it for tests etc. so not too big a deal, but annoying nonetheless.
It never crashed or froze on us - in terms of build quality it's light and the buttons feel cheap. The button labels rub off pretty quickly. Didn't have any overheating issues, though we were shooting in Melbourne at the end of Winter, so the hottest day it got exposed to was probably 18 degrees celsius (65ish farenheit).
I love 16mm, though I'm kinda happy I'll never have to load an A-Minima againI think I might be getting too hung up on the s16 sensor format. I have a nostalgia for 16mm that borders on unhealthy. If I had my way I'd be shooting with an A-Minima or an XTR every day.
. But I know what you mean, give me an XTR any day..Thanks man, lots of food for thought. I'm not ordering anything until after NAB, and a few other things are sorted. Not that I am going to NAB our planning on waiting for the "next big thing" but show announcements tend to change the pricing on existing gear, both new and used.
Interesting about the "not quite 800" factor. I understand that the 4k shoots well at 400 but pushes to 800 quite nicely. Certainly vastly more room to push the footage around than the 8 stops or so of avchd that I get from the gh2. Certainly not expecting range on par with Alexa/Amira, but I hoped it was at least on par with the 2.5k bmd.
I also like the idea of being able to cover street events, protests, etc with something small and light like the pocket.
Academic for the moment, but there are "barely used, unregistered" pockets showing up here and there for decent prices so I thought I'd dig a little deeper.
Interesting about the "not quite 800" factor. I understand that the 4k shoots well at 400 but pushes to 800 quite nicely. Certainly vastly more room to push the footage around than the 8 stops or so of avchd that I get from the gh2. Certainly not expecting range on par with Alexa/Amira, but I hoped it was at least on par with the 2.5k bmd.
I also like the idea of being able to cover street events, protests, etc with something small and light like the pocket.
Academic for the moment, but there are "barely used, unregistered" pockets showing up here and there for decent prices so I thought I'd dig a little deeper.
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In my limited experience shooting with the pocket I found that if you're willing to do a little noise reduction in post it's entirely useable at 1600+. This was half pocket & half C100 - I'm pretty sure all the wide shots are the pocket, panny 12-35mm at f/2.8 and 1600, and at least a stop underexposed. Brought the exposure up in Color and then ran it through neat video to clean up the noise:
https://vimeo.com/77929998
https://vimeo.com/77929998
Thanks Donned, I like that piece. Clever. Hard to tell what I'm looking at on my phone's screen, but I'll give it another view from home over the weekend.
The jogging wide shot was the c100? Looks like the wides on the porch were pocket?
Just read the press release about the McDonald's spot. Dat helmet rig! Looking for the actual spot. If they got acceptable rendering of motion with that rig being worn by skateboarders then I don't think I have much to worry about there.
It's on the Native Sons reel page if anyone is looking for it.
Still looks like post corrected rolling shutter motion, but not as bothersome as I would have expected. Impressive for the price to be sure.
The jogging wide shot was the c100? Looks like the wides on the porch were pocket?
Just read the press release about the McDonald's spot. Dat helmet rig! Looking for the actual spot. If they got acceptable rendering of motion with that rig being worn by skateboarders then I don't think I have much to worry about there.
It's on the Native Sons reel page if anyone is looking for it.
Still looks like post corrected rolling shutter motion, but not as bothersome as I would have expected. Impressive for the price to be sure.
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Yes, wides on the porch were pocket, close ups and the jogging shot were C100 into an atmos ninja 2. That was a 24 hour project so we kept the lighting pretty simple, if I remember correctly we had a small 256 led panel hidden up on the right side of the porch and a larger 512 panel on the sidewalk as fill, both daylight balanced. The color mismatch between the two is just down to not having time to do a careful grading pass.
The pocket had quite a bit of noise at 1600, but it's a very sharp, fine 'clean' noise because of the prores codec, not the splotchy look you typically get from h.264 encoded stuff. I didn't even have time to properly profile it in neat video - I think I just sampled a small square of one of the door panels to create a profile, definitely less than ideal.
The pocket had quite a bit of noise at 1600, but it's a very sharp, fine 'clean' noise because of the prores codec, not the splotchy look you typically get from h.264 encoded stuff. I didn't even have time to properly profile it in neat video - I think I just sampled a small square of one of the door panels to create a profile, definitely less than ideal.
Did some testing yesterday. My baseline is the GH2 since that's what I've used the last few years. I shot some scenes and locations that I've covered with GH2. No scientifically controlled lighting or anything, but the pocketcam was alias free, GH2 showed aliasing under same conditions. Pocketcam also had better roll off and DR. This for me is a significant upgrade at a great pricepoint. ymmv.
ps Wooden Camera half cage strongly advised. Only $99 for the original, knock offs are less.
ps Wooden Camera half cage strongly advised. Only $99 for the original, knock offs are less.
Thanks Brian, nice to hear from someone who's walked the upgrade path I'm considering.
Friend/fellow freelancer sent me this:
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/Behind-the-Lens-Rodney-Charters/1
Friend/fellow freelancer sent me this:
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/Behind-the-Lens-Rodney-Charters/1
It's a fun camera. The "Magic" part of Blackmagic happens in post though with its studly codec. I also noticed a little less jellovision compared to GH2. These cams are not for everyone, I'm convinced you need a handheld light meter unless you have a real monitor. I think the battery issue is overstated simply becuse they're so cheap. Point being, people are buying and selling soon after so there are some deals on the second hand markets.
How much mileage are you getting out of Resolve Lite? Or are folks using something like FilmConvert?